Layton Brothers: My boss might be a killer

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Layton Brothers: My boss might be a killer

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Several things appear to be significant, though I'm not sure how to piece them together.

1. The two bloodstains- real and fake, with real on the interior, suggesting it happened second. The game has given us the ability to distinguish between the two very intentionally.
2. The lubricant-soaked prop gun (made by the stagehand), and the lubricant backstage.
3. The discarded squib switch, indicating that someone else triggered the fake blood. This is especially important, because lacking an alternate explanation, this someone else is the murderer.

The classic mystery move would be a gun switch, or that the prop gun fired a real bullet. Under this reading, the lights going out provided cover for a fake scream from the actress. The bloodstain would belie this, though I am assuming the squib was on the victim. We should make sure the pistol was actually fired and not just loaded with 5 rounds.

Alternate, more complex explanations involve a double bluff allowing a second shot from behind stage simultaneous to or after the prop shot. Regardless, the multiple bulletholes and distance information tell me the location of the gunshot will have to be determined.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2015 22:32

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 17:44

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Oblivion4568238 posted:

My suspicion's on Destiny. My take is that both the scream and the gunshot during the blackout were fake, and Gloria was killed by the on-stage shot. Perhaps the real gun was swapped with the prop at the time? Destiny would have had the best opportunity to mess with the objects after the first shot, though I don't know about before.

Of course, we also have to consider how ominous the opening narration was. Could be we'll still get blindsided later into the case.

That was my first take, but the problem here is the bloodstain- it seems like the real blood is all inside the fake squib blood, meaning that the squib activated during the onstage shot and the real blood happened afterwards, presumably during the blackout.

Looking at the crime scene, the devs went out of their way to give us markers for all possible gunfire locations. We're going to be measuring the gunshot distance.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 00:46

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

That's really nice, Tax. The squib hitting first is a good explanation for the order of bloodstains, given the unusual position of the trigger. I think a shorter explanation would be that Roscoe performed the backstage darkness shenanigans.

One outstanding question here is why/how the blackout occurred in the first place.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2015 16:07

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

All we have is " Immediately after that, the lights went out. " It's really hard for me to tell how to read that- you guys are probably right that it's in the script.

...Man, they are not giving us enough information this time around.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2015 23:20

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Aerdan posted:

Sure they are. Think about the remote switch. Why is it there and not on her person like it ought to be?

That's...not my point. We're having to infer salient facts because the language of the material we've been provided is ambiguous.

I was the first one to comment on the squib. If you have an actual theory or explanation to contribute, say it rather than try to be cute about it.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2015 02:08

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Urgh, so far this is much too simple. Have they explained the two forms of blood found at the corpse and their order?

# ¿ Aug 16, 2015 01:19

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

I...buh? Why did the squib detonate? Doesn't the "bumping into" provide a lack of time to somehow force Knox to scream during the blackout?

There's got to be more, given that we're ending so abruptly.

I gotta say, I'm not fond of the game's apparent tendency to add or remove facts from the equation when deconstructing a crime scene.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2015 23:47

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

I'm still confused about how the squib went off before she was shot, though. Why include that detail if it was wrong? Why would Strapping feel like he needed to frame someone for this?

vvv That makes no sense! How huge is a squib?! Why knock someone else unconscious? How do you communicate all the necessary information to run that fake scream trick while briefly bumping into someone? :argh:

Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Aug 23, 2015

# ¿ Aug 23, 2015 00:06

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

HydroSphere posted:

The pattern of this blood, it's...

Is there something odd about it, Prof?

It's almost as if the fake and the real blood spilled at the same time. But perhaps I'm wrong.

Oh, gently caress you, game.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2015 23:06

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Glazius posted:

That's what you get for using a hint on that clue, right? I'd say it's a pretty good hint, myself!

It's a hint that directly contradicts the visual evidence provided by the clue. Sort of like how "bumping into" someone becomes "enough time to convince them to imitate someone else's scream for no reason". It feels like the writers start each scenario with one or two interesting/classic mystery twist ideas, then fail to finish the execution to make the information provided coherent with the solution.

The game just generally feels like they ran out of time or money partway through so the scenarios aren't fully developed.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2015 00:44

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Kaja Rainbow posted:

Didn't he pass her a note when he bumped into her? I recall that being mentioned as what happened.

No- I think the game may have said he "gave her a message", but it would have to be oral- if he had written out a plan for her beforehand, then he would have had to do it while onstage in the period of time between firing and walking offstage and bumping into her.

# ¿ Aug 28, 2015 03:14

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

Kegluneq posted:

Wait, what? The two pools of blood are in the same place, so it's clear they happened simultaneously. I don't get what's wrong with that hint.

One is entirely inside the other. They're presented as if their relative shades and separation is important.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2015 20:58

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 17:44

Discendo Vox: Mar 21, 2013; We don't need to have that dialogue because it's obvious, trivial, and has already been had a thousand times.

They're doing the fishing line closed room bit, from the looks of it. line running outside, possibly via the hook, and pulling on the beam, probably to either set up the axe trap as Drakenel or to puppet the body forward.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2015 00:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Layton Brothers: My boss might be a killer